Markedness in Second Language Acquisition1

Second language acquisition research to date has applied markedness concepts largely to L1‐L2 transfer, and this work is briefly summarized. Yet there is a neglected potential for such application to ongoing L2 developmental research as well. As an illustration of this, the data from three different studies are reanalyzed in order to show that an otherwise unexplained order of acquisition can be accounted for from a markedness perspective. There is still a need, however, for looking beyond the distributional characteristics of the exponents of formal syntax if a greater understanding of the acquisition of more complex language is to be achieved. Of prime interest, therefore, is the extent to which we can apply markedness theory to discourse, and a framework for viewing discourse from a markedness perspective is suggested.